GSS inspires swimmers around the world, including: Diego Lopez

Diego Lopez is a marathon swimmer from the Canary Islands in Spain, who has lived and worked all around the world in the last 15 years. When he moved to New York City at the end of 2016, he was determined to complete the 46 km circumnavigation swim of Manhattan Island. The problem was that he didn’t find many open water races where he could train, given the cold waters in winter.

So it wasn’t long until he started to use this as an excuse to travel and swim at races in the Caribbean. Diego recently told us that he found the Global Swim Series was a great source of information for races all over the world and used the GSS to pick the races he wanted to travel to. In the 2016/17 season he raced in GSS races in Haiti, St Kitts and Nevis and Lido Key and was then well prepared for his Manhattan swim, which he finished in a blazing 6 hours and 37 minutes in August 2017.

During this GSS 2017/18 season, Diego has already swam and obtained podium finishes in a number of GSS competitions in Cancun, Turks and Caicos, Alcatraz, Chattanooga and Barbados too. He is planning to improve his global ranking further by swimming a few more including Australia’s Port to Pub and South Africa’s Freedom Swim, both part of the GSS circuit.

This will make him the first Spaniard to complete the “Triple Break of Prison Island Swims”, and put him on the path to complete the first ever “Continents Seven” – which is swimming a major swim in each of the seven continents in a single year. He is doing this to raise funds for Ocean Recovery Alliance, a non-profit that fights plastic waste in our oceans.

Diego at the GSS Race: Nevis to St Kitts

Diego embodies the goal of the Global Swim Series: promoting open water swimming and increasing participation in the sport all around the world.

We wish him, and all the competitors, all the best in competing for the GSS Championship… as well as with his quest for the “Continents Seven” journey, which you can follow on his website Global Swimmer.

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Welcome to the Global Swim Series

The Global Swim Series is the world’s largest open water swimming series! We’re a collection of 150+ races from over 34 countries around the globe that have joined together to promote open water swimming and a healthy, active and adventurous lifestyle.

Over 100,000 swimmers participate in GSS races and compete against swimmers from around the world using our unique Global Ranking system that recognizes both speed and participation.

We invite swimmers of all abilities to check out the GSS races in your area or plan a trip and join us to start collecting your GSS Points and build your Global Ranking!

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ABOUT US

The Global Swim Series is the world's largest collection of open water swimming races. We are dedicated to growing the sport by creating excitement, unique experiences and friendly competition in open water swimming. Come out and join us around the world for a swim!